On Sunday, David, Stephen and I had an adventure. Since it was the Lunar New Year, we decided to go to the festivities in Philadelphia. David is not a morning person, but he practiced for a few days and I’m grateful. Erich was going to come along too, but he’s really not a morning person and fell back asleep. Stephen is both a night owl and early bird, so he came along.
It was both David’s and Stephen’s first time experiencing something like this. Before COVID, these events used to be packed, but that wasn’t the case this year. I’m sure what happened in LA didn’t help things. It was nice to actually see the lion dances. I stood next to David, he put his arm around me and I snuggled in. The weather was chilly, but not frigid. I had a warm and comfortable view. Stephen had the right idea by bringing some ear plugs for when the firecrackers went off. Stephen knows some Chinese and loves the culture, so he was well prepared.
The dancing lasted about an hour and after, I took the guys into the Sanrio shop. Sanrio, which used to be solely Hello Kitty, was my favourite store in middle school. While the Sanrio in China Town sells some Hello Kitty items, they sell anime and other Asian crafts. I can always find interesting scrapbook supplies in that shop; Stephen and David saw animes they were interested in and got lost for a little bit.
Once we decided on some sparklers and a keychain for Erich, our stomachs grumbled. David and I love pho and when we went to the Art Museum in November, we had dinner at Pho Cali. We thought about going there for our Lunar New Year meal, but David and Stephen pointed out some restaurants that interested them. Both mentioned they never had duck and Siu Kee’s Duck House grabbed my attention. They both agreed that duck sounded good.
Siu Kee’s was small and we couldn’t eat inside. That was okay since our time for parking was starting to run out. Stephen decided on a Pe Pot duck, and David and I decided on the duck meal, which came with rice. We loved watching them prepare our food. We went back to David’s and we were all pleasantly surprised how delicious everything was. As we sat at the dining room table, we happily chatted about the celebrations. David’s dad was watching NCIS and we chatted with him for a bit too.
Since Erich wasn’t awake yet, we went up to the attic and watched some anime. David wanted to show me the abridged version of Seven Deadly Sins, so Stephen, David, and I watched the abridged version and laughed. The abridged version was from Scotland and it was funny to hear the characters speak with a Scottish accent. Once Erich woke up, we ventured downstairs, watched more of the Seven Deadly Sins and played video games.
Such a great day. Here’s the album of the photos I took. Shutterfly offered me a free photo book and I made one last night.
The Happiness Box Project 
Hi, Jessica Marie!
I thought 2023 is the Year of the Dell Rat. I stand corrected. 🙂 Thanks for letting me tag along with you and David and Stephen to witness this year’s Lunar New Year celebration in Philadelphia’s Chinatown complete with traditional lion dances, a festival and parade. It is indeed sad that the massacre at an Asian ballroom in California was in the back of many minds as they attended this public event in the Asian district. With firecrackers going off every few seconds and those puffs of smoke that are visible in your picture gallery, I’m sure many of the onlookers became uneasy given what happened on the West Coast. I applaud you and David and Stephen for getting out there early in the morning and showing support for the Asian community.
I love Chinese cuisine, and I’m glad you and the boys found a good place to get food when you got hungry and before you got hangry. 🙂 Thanks for telling me about the duck meals you guys got. I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten duck. I’ll need to ask Mrs. Shady, because she has prepared many exotic dishes for us over the years.
I enjoyed seeing all of the festivities at this year’s Chinatown celebration, and the happy faces on you, David and Stephen as you made happy memories that will go into this year’s Box . Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend JM!
“Keep on rockin’… ’cause you only rock once.”
– Jerry Blavat (The Geator with the Heater)
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